


i'm sorry

by clyd



Category: Persona 3, persona - Fandom
Genre: I'm back!!! SEES members appears but only for a bit, Junpei is a good bro, M/M, Post Break Up AU, a bit emotional and angsty, but it gets better, don't worry it's a good ending, set 5 years later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 18:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20661500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clyd/pseuds/clyd
Summary: “....Minato? Hi. Yeah, it’s me. Please don’t put down the phone. I know…. I know what I said last time but… It’s Mitsuko’s birthday tomorrow and she doesn’t know that we’re no longer together and she’s expecting us to attend together and I feel really bad for telling her because Bunkichi said that if I told her, it’ll probably break her heart and I-”Minato didn’t bother to hear the end of the message. He sighed before opening the messaging app and sent a text of confirmation to Akihiko. Formal. That was the word to describe his reply.





	i'm sorry

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! After two years of not making a sound, I'm back! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as you enjoyed my previous fic.
> 
> The prompt that I used is from this https://thedreamvevowritingprompts.tumblr.com/post/132518177311/post-breakup-aus

He had no idea how he got himself into this and he definitely didn’t want to do this. It’s been 5 years since he last left Iwatodai with a heavy heart and now he was in his apartment in Tokyo making last minute arrangements for his trip back. Make no mistake, he loved his friends, they were more of a family than his real ones. Being with them taught him a lot of things. The brief couple of years that he spent with them were full of good and bad memories. He treasured the good ones and loathed the bad ones. Among the bad, one was the reason why he left.

Closing the zipper on his suitcase, he reached for his phone and played back the voicemail that started his last minute packing.

_“....Minato? Hi. Yeah, it’s me. Please don’t put down the phone. I know…. I know what I said last time but… It’s Mitsuko’s birthday tomorrow and she doesn’t know that we’re no longer together and she’s expecting us to attend together and I feel really bad for telling her because Bunkichi said that if I told her, it’ll probably break her heart and I-”_

Minato didn’t bother to hear the end of the message. He sighed before opening the messaging app and sent a text of confirmation to Akihiko. Formal. That was the word to describe his text. He WAS doing this for Mitsuko and Bunckichi after all, the old couple had been nice and accepting of him.

The trip back to Iwatodai was just how he remembered it to be. It was long and quiet just enough for him to gather his nervousness, anger, sadness, bitterness and a whole lot more of feelings and shove them deep within him. If only Pharos could see him now, the boy would’ve already chastised him. His train of thought was broken when the train doors opened and he was greeted by the familiar sight of the train station where everything was also the same minus the green hue of the dark hour. He grabbed his suitcase and took his first step toward the exit of the station where Junpei said he’d wait for him.

“Yo! Minato! Long time no see, buddy!”

He was not yet that close but he could already make out the grinning face of his best friend. He waved his hand indicating that he saw the guy.

Junpei made his way to him, “How was the trip? I was surprised when Mitsuru-senpai told me to fetch you here. After what happened, I never thought that you’d be coming back.”

Ah, yes. This is what he missed about Junpei. Leave it to the guy to be direct at the point. After what happened to him and Akihiko, everyone in SEES tried their hardest not to talk about what happened.

Minato smiled, “The trip was fine and I never said that I wasn’t coming back. Besides, it’s been years. Both Akihiko-senpai and I had already grown. We’re fine. I’m fine.”

His friend looked at him funny before leading him to the taxi that was waiting for them.

There was something off. The route of the taxi was very familiar. He knew this route. He himself had been through this route countless times. Hell, he could even navigate this route with his eyes closed. “Junpei, this isn’t the way to the hotel, is it?”

Junpei looked up from his phone and answered that yes, it isn’t the way to the hotel, no, nobody booked you a hotel room and yes, you are going to say in the dorm with all of us.

Apparently, Ken thought that it would be a great idea if all of them could stay in the dorm just like the old times. So, now, here he was, after all of what he’d been through, in front of a door, staring at it.

“Dude. Open it. Everyone is probably asleep and he isn’t here yet. Mitsuru-senpai said that they’ll arrive tomorrow morning.”

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and was immediately greeted by a very energetic Koromaru. He let the dog slobber all over his face before patting the guy and greeting Ken, Yukari and Fuuka.

“Minato-senpai, welcome back! Everyone missed here missed you!”

Minato talked to the group for a while, asking how they were and also answering their questions. Their conversation started to dwindle when Ken excused himself to sleep since, it was getting pretty late. Yukari offered to help Minato settle his things upstairs but he declined saying that it was okay and that she should get some rest because she still has work the next day. As he walked towards his room, he noticed that the door to Akihiko’s room was half-opened. Upon catching a glimpse of the room, he was flooded with memories. No. Stop. It was over. He slapped his face and went to his room. Tonight was not the night that he’d breakdown over the past.

Wet was the first thing that registered in his sleep hazed mind. “Koromaru, stop. Minato-san, is starting to wake up.”, was the second thing that registered in his mind.

Minato opened his eyes and saw Aigis standing beside his bed and Koromaru on top of his chest. “Good morning, Aigis, Koro-chan.”

Aigis informed him that breakfast is ready and that everyone is already in the kitchen. When he heard the word everyone, he asked the girl who exactly does ‘everyone’ meant. He started to consider going back to sleep when he heard that their two seniors are part of ‘everyone’ but in the end, he sucked it up and went down. He was on his way down the stairs when he heard Akihiko laughing at something.  
Ken saw him first and greeted him with a very enthusiastic, ‘Good morning’. He greeted back and smiled but his smile started to break when he saw Akihiko. The senior caught his eye and as if nothing ever happened, also greeted him with a good morning. The breakfast was a bit tense at the beginning but started to morph back into what it was before when the night had an extra hour where they spent the nights fighting shadows. 

After breakfast, Ken told the group that Mitsuko’s birthday celebration would be at lunch and that they should head earlier to help out with the decoration and the cooking. They later found out that the birthday party was mostly planned by Ken, bless the kid. 

Upon arriving at the small cafe Bunkichi rented, the old man hugged Minato and told him how much it would mean to his wife that the boy came. 

There were a lot of things to do so, Fuuka thought that it’d be a good idea to split the chores among them by drawing lots. 

“We’re not in high school anymore so why do we have to draw lots?”, asked Junpei while moving closer to Minato.

“We’re drawing lots because we all know that you’d pair with Minato and let him do all the work!”

“Hey! I’ve changed.”

Mitsuru stepped in and ended the upcoming bickering between Junpei and Yukari by declaring that drawing lots is a good idea. Minato thinking nothing of this agreed.

And after drawing lots, he regretted agreeing. His personae must’ve been laughing at him. No, he was pretty sure that his personae pulled some strings and see to it that his partner would be Akihiko. Everyone in the room, looked at Akihiko when he announced that he got number two, which is coincidentally the number that was assigned to a certain blue-haired boy.

....

“I didn’t know that you could cook.”

Minato and Akihiko were left in the kitchen together and Minato was trying his hardest to act normal despite the heavy atmosphere.

“I learned. Living alone in Tokyo made me pick up a lot of skills.”

“Hmmm.”

And that was it. At first, both of them would make small talk but it always ended with an awkward silence so they stopped and focused on just cooking. For some reason, Akihiko still knows what he needs before he even says it. If he needs the pepper, Akihiko is already on the move to hand it to him. This continued until, one of them said something that lead them to laugh and began reminiscing and just like nothing happened in the past, the two boys began to talk about everything to nothing. The two only stopped when Bunkichi entered telling the boys that Mitsuko will arrive in a couple of minutes and that they should start freshening up.

Everyone had gathered in the center of the cafe. There were cakes, traditional dishes and lots of gifts. It was obvious that Mitsuko was really loved by the people invited. She had grown more gray hair than the last time Minato saw her. Bunkichi led his wife to the seat situated near the cake. As she settled on her seat, Minato brought out the birthday cake that he made with Akihiko. Mitsuko’s eyes sparkled when she saw the two boys. Everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and clapped when she blew on the candle. 

In the middle of the party, she asked Bunkichi to call Minato and Akihiko. Upon hugging distance, she hugged the two one after the other. 

“You two had grown up so well. Especially you, Minato, but you look a bit tired.”, she paused for a bit and turned to Akihiko before asking, “Are you feeding Minato well? He is already inherently thin so you really need to take care of your partner.”

Akihiko couldn’t help and glance at the boy beside him, who immediately tried to keep his expression happy.

With a hint of a fond accusatory tone Minato answered, “Of course, he does. He never stops on bugging me to eat my greens to the point that he’d refuse to leave the table if I don’t finish everything.”

The old lady laughed before continuing, “Does he cook for you? Please, tell me more, humor this old lady. I miss hearing you talk about each other.”

Minato slowly grabbed Akihiko’s arm, pulling him close and started talking about their supposedly ‘dates’, ‘arguments’ and ‘everyday life’ while occasionally asking him to pitch in from time to time.

Mitsuko beamed at the boys’ stories before facing her husband, “You were right. I didn’t need to worry about Mina-chan.”

“Of course, I’m right. Akihiko would never hurt Minato.” her husband answered.

The previous boxing captain felt his stomach drop when he heard Bunkichi. Right, he’d never hurt the boy, never make him cry, never make him suffer. RIGHT. He went back to five years to that particular day, remembering every word that he’d said to the boy. 

He was mad not at Minato but at himself. Maybe this was inevitable, it has been days since, they both talked to each other. The younger teen had tried reaching out but he pushed him away. Mitsuru tried reasoning with him. Even Junpei had tried to talk to him but all of their efforts were in vain. He knew that Minato was not at fault but for some reason he still blamed the boy.

It was that day in December when Ryoji appeared where everything started to fall apart.

‘If only he didn’t come here maybe Shinji would still be alive. Maybe even Mitsuru’s father would still be alive.’

‘If only he weren’t here Ken would’ve never known.”

‘If only he didn’t exi-...”

“Akihiko! STOP!” The boxer was brought out of his trance by a slap coming from Mitsuru.

“You have said enough.” Gaining his senses, he looked towards Mitsuru and saw that Aigis had taken the shaking Minato in her arms. The entire room was silent. No one had seen their leader like this, not even when faced with large and overpowered shadows.

Minato pushed Aigis’ arms, move a step towards the group and with his usual tone said, “I’m sorry. I’ll leave after all of this is over.” 

The days leading to their big fight was tense. Minato had stopped hanging out with the group. He had stopped letting out his rare smiles. He still talked to others but never out of necessity. The boy had gone back to the ‘him’ when he first arrived in Iwatodai. Akihiko’s stupid young self wanted to tell the younger boy to get lost and never come back. He hurt his friends, how dare he stay in the dorm with them. How could Mitsuru even tolerate the guy who contributed to her father’s death.

“Akihiko? Hey, are you okay? You’re spacing out.” Akihiko blinked his tears away before excusing themselves and grabbing the boy away from the party. 

Clearly, surprised by what was happening Minato asked the older boy where are they going but all he got was a quiet apology.

They have been walking for a while when Akihiko finally stopped at a secluded area near the strip mall. Finally having the time to catch his breath, Minato asked, “Is this where you’re planning to kill me?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what exactly?”

Taking a step forward and locking his eyes with Minato’s as if he’d gathered all his everything he continued, “That day, for the things that I've said… I’m sorry.”

Minato wasn’t one for laying his heart out for everyone to see but this, hearing this, was making it hard for him to keep his emotions in check. 

“Sorry? Really? After all these years, that you could have apologized. You only thought of saying it now?”. For years, Minato had shoved his sadness and anger. He left Iwatodai, leaving his friends, family, to get away and to keep himself from breaking down. And now just like this, the person who made him leave everything, is asking him for forgiveness?

“I know what I did was wrong and I-..” 

“And you hurt me! I know that all of their deaths was on me! You didn’t need to rub it in my face! I know it’s my fault! I-I… I was so lost and the one person whom I thought who’d be at my side told me that it would’ve been better if I didn’t exist… that’s just…” Minato knew that he was shouting and crying and people could probably hear him but he didn’t care. “I tried to reach out… I tried talking to you yet you pushed me away! I tried so hard… Even when I left, I couldn’t make myself fully forget you and it’s just frustrating!” He was crying when he felt two arms pull him into a hug. At first, he resisted, pushing them away but eventually, he gave in. He missed this. He missed Akihiko.

“I was dumb and selfish and an idiot. I knew it was my fault, yet I kept on blaming you. I have no excuse. I’m sorry.” Akihiko buried his face on Minato’s hair and wrapped his arms tighter as he apologized.

It must’ve been a good minute when Minato pulled away from the hug and gave the older boy a punch in the gut. “Yes, you’re dumb and an idiot and you deserve that punch.” He might’ve been sniffing and his eyes were bloodshot but at least he felt lighter. 

Akihiko crouched to the ground, “O-okay, I deserved that but that really hurts.” Minato smiled at him and offered his hand to help.

“Um.. so does this mean that we’re okay, now?” Akihiko’s voice sounded so unsure and full of doubt. This was not the usual guy that Minato is used to seeing.  
“Okay? Yeah, we’re good but forgiven? Not so much. You have to earn my forgiveness.” Akihiko’s face changed from relief to confusion and concern.

Seeing this Minato grinned before saying, “Take me on a date and we’ll see how this goes.”

Extra:

“Aki, when I said take me on a date, I had expectations, I had expectations but they weren’t that high. I was thinking that we’d go out to dinner but this?” Minato had ran out of words as he pointed towards the entrance to the gym of Gekkoukan High. Two weeks ago after he broke down in front of Akihiko, the boy asked him if he could go back to Iwatodai after two weeks for their ‘date’ and he agreed. 

“Aww. Come on! You’ll like it. Besides, I remember you enjoying watching boxing matches. Please give it a chance.”

Sighing Minato, conceded and entered the gym. “I can’t believe that after five years, your idea of a date is taking me into an amateur boxing match.” Ugh. I can’t let him know that the only reason that I enjoyed those matches was because he was the one in the ring.

And then the match started, it was the same as he remembered. Same ring, same dimness of the light, same seats the only thing different was the person in the ring was someone he wasn’t interested in. In the middle of the match, to his surprise, Akihiko asked him to leave the gym. As soon as they were out, the older man lead him to the school’s yard where the Persimmon Tree was planted. Under the shade of the tree was a blue blanket with a basket in the middle. Akihiko held his hands and guided him to sit under the shade. 

Scratching his head, “Junpei left the food so I had to stall you for a while.”

“Dork. You’re such a dork.”

The two sat in the yard and enjoyed the food. Minato thought that after five years, Akihiko’s dorkiness still haven’t changed. He was looking at the other boy who was busy talking about how Ken was now able to render Junpei speechless and how proud he was of the boy.

“Minato? You’re starring.”

“Yuuki. Call me Yuuki.”

….  
As much as he wanted to stay in Iwatodai for a couple more days, he had no choice but to go back to Tokyo. He was in his apartment sorting out the bag which contained souvenirs from his friends, when he noticed a box covered in a white paper. He reached down and opened it only to be greeted by two polaroids and a note. The first one is of Aki and him under the Persimmon Tree with him leaning on Aki’s shoulder. It was a very nice photo and he could hardly believe that he was able to make that sort of expression. The second photo is of him and Aki when they were still in high school also in the same location but this time he was asleep on Aki’s lap and thinking back now, this was probably around the time where he started to fall for the boy. He put down the photos and read the note. The handwriting told him that it was written by his bestfriend.

“Dude. You two have the most annoying relationship ever. Please whatever happens make this work. The entire team couldn’t stand you both fighting. 

P.S. Don’t tell senpai I told you but he’s planning on moving to Tokyo!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Sorry for the grammatical errors, my grasp of the English language both verbal and written are slowly slipping away. I also feel that I kinda rushed the ending for this :(
> 
> Kudos and comments make writers happy. If you have a prompt or something that you'd want me to write on please do leave them here or on my tumblr (@radioactiveradium).


End file.
